The first alien helicopter is not yet going to fly around Mars. The unmanned aircraft was scheduled to make its first short flight on the red planet on the night from Sunday to Monday (Dutch time), but it has been postponed. A technical problem came to light during a rehearsal. At the earliest, a new takeoff attempt will be made next Wednesday.
The first flight was scheduled for 4.54 Dutch time on Monday. The Mars helicopter Ingenuity was planned to reach a height of several meters in three seconds. He would linger there for thirty seconds, before landing in the same spot in a controlled manner.
That first flight is a test. If it succeeds, the Mars helicopter can then fly around five times, each time a few hundred meters further. It will probably last about a month on Mars.
What went wrong?
In preparation for the first flight, flight control had the rotors of the helicopter rotated on Friday. Something went wrong in the code on board. The computer in the Ingenuity warned flight controllers that something was wrong. That is being investigated. “The helicopter is safe and healthy and sent all the data to Earth,” said the US space agency NASA on Saturday.
The helicopter was launched in July as baggage in the hold of the Mars cart Perseverance. Together they landed on Mars in mid-February. About a week ago, the Ingenuity was placed on the surface. The Ingenuity is almost 1 meter high and weighs about 2 kilos.
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